Polymer supported catalysts have been the subject of considerable investigative research. For instance, it is recognized in the art that common normally homogeneous catalysts, e.g. the metal carbonyls of cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum and palladium may be bound via a coordination complex upon various polymer supports, and utilized in that form. See, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,636,159 and 3,652,676. It has been found, however, that the catalyst supports suggested for use in the prior art commonly are incapable of functioning at highly elevated temperatures or in more severe environments such as caustic solutions without impairment of their physical properties. Accordingly, there has remained a need for polymer supported catalysts which are capable of functioning on a satisfactory basis even under such severe operating conditions.
Also, when metal catalysts have been applied to inorganic supports, e.g. SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, ZrO.sub.2, MgO, etc., which are capable of withstanding highly elevated temperatures, difficulties have been encountered when one has attempted to achieve a uniform non-agglomerated spaced distribution of metal catalyst sites upon the support. Such difficulties commonly lead to wasted catalyst within clusters and agglomerates of metallic catalyst and to reduced catalytic activity resulting from the overabundance of catalyst. Also, the support may dissolve under basic conditions. For example, a one percent KOH solution in contact with silica gel will reduce its surface area from about 500 square meters per gram to about 300 square meters per gram in a few hours.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved supported transition metal catalyst.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved supported transition metal catalyst which is capable of utilization at highly elevated temperatures and/or in the presence of a caustic medium.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved supported transition metal catalyst wherein the metal uniformly is distributed at isolated sites over the surface of a high surface area particle of BBB type polymer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a supported transition metal catalyst which particularly is suited for use in hydrogenation reactions, isomerization reactions, and oxidation reactions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a supported transition metal catalyst which particularly is suited for use in a fuel cell wherein oxygen and hydrogen react to produce electrical current and to form water.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for the formation of an improved supported transition metal catalyst.
These and other objects, as well as the scope, nature, and utilization of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and appended claims.